AstraZeneca Posted October 27, 2026

Director Product Quality

Liverpool, United Kingdom Full time
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AstraZeneca is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Job Title: Director Product Quality

Location : Liverpool, the UK

Salary:  Competitive plus benefits

Introduction to role:

Are you ready to reinvent how Quality drives product excellence and patient impact? As Director Product Quality, you will lead the strategy and execution of quality across the full product lifecycle, with immediate influence on a high-profile franchise and a rich pipeline. You will accelerate our Lean evolution by using evidence, models, and data to make decisions that improve reliability, reduce risk, and get medicines to patients faster.

This role suits a decisive, science-led professional who can move seamlessly from policy to practice offering quick expert support to partners, building strong cross-functional networks, and shaping development strategy. You will plan, coordinate, and implement scientific quality systems; analyze data trends to uncover risk and opportunity; and oversee initiatives that lift performance. Will you lead change and champion emerging technologies to raise the bar for quality and speed to patients?

Accountabilities:

Enterprise Quality Leadership: Represent Quality on global teams, acting as the liaison for the entire Quality function for the Flu Franchise and other products, ensuring alignment and clear decision-making that protects patients and supply.

Flu Franchise Stewardship: Support the Flu Franchise governance team and drive effective information flow to CMC, Quality Product Teams, and site quality leads, translating strategy into phase-appropriate execution.

Cross-Functional Integration: Act as the communication bridge between development, CMC, Quality, and Operations to remove barriers, synchronize priorities, and secure right-first-time outcomes.

Strategy Enablement: Engage collaborators to implement CMC strategies and escalate Quality constraints early, enabling faster cycle times and robust product plans.

End-to-End Product Insight: Maintain Quality understanding from cell and viral banking through post-release events, connecting critical control points to patient outcomes.

Risk-Based Guidance: Provide data-driven, phase-appropriate Quality advice to the CMC Team to manage risk proactively and enable confident decision-making.

Regulatory Leadership: Review and approve regulatory filings as needed, safeguarding compliance and supporting successful submissions globally.

Quality Product Team Leadership: Lead the Quality Product Team to resolve product quality challenges and capitalize on opportunities that strengthen robustness and supply.

Standards and Procedures: Contribute to development procedures in your area of specialism and provide technical input into global standards to drive consistency and excellence.

Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to enhance business processes and Quality systems, championing Lean ways of working that raise productivity and quality outcomes.

External Influence: Participate in external engagement to shape CMC strategies and reflect best practice back into our standards.

Coaching and Mentorship: Support and mentor colleagues across the wider Quality team, building capability and a culture of accountability and kindness.

Essential Skills/Experience:

Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Engineering or equivalent experience in related field

Experience in multiple areas of quality assurance within a pharmaceutical manufacturing environment

Confirmed work experience in Quality

Strong leadership and interpersonal skills

Experience interacting with global Regulatory Bodies

Solid understanding and application of CMC related regulatory guidances (e.g., ICH, FDA, EMA, MHRA)

Desirable Skills/Experience:

Post-graduate qualification

Advanced degree in related field or equivalent experience preferred

Previous method development, process development, RA CMC or formulation development experience

QP Eligibility, it would be preferential for the best candidate to be eligible to be named on our UK site license

Understanding of egg-based Flu manufacturing processes and analytics

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

Why AstraZeneca:

Here, Quality is more than compliance it is a science-led, patient-first mindset that shapes every decision. You will work with ambitious colleagues who combine courage with kindness, putting unconventional combinations of experts together to spark bold ideas. With a diverse, fast-moving pipeline and a sharp focus on scaling new technologies, you will apply digital models and Lean practices to anticipate risk, improve flow, and deliver medicines reliably and safely. Your influence will be visible, from certifying batches that reach patients to setting standards adopted across teams, all within a supportive community that values accountability, evidence, and continuous learning.

What is next?

Step into this pivotal role to shape how Quality fuels innovation and patient impact seize the opportunity to lead, learn, and create meaningful outcomes today!

We are looking forward to your application, not later than 12th November 2026

Date Posted

27-Oct-2026

Closing Date

12-Nov-2026

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 102 comparable Director Quality roles across 30 biopharma companies.

102Comparable roles tracked
100Currently active
30Companies hiring similar roles
20Countries represented

Salary context

51 of 102 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Senior Principal Microbiologist · Lilly $65,250/yr – $169,400/yr
Peer group range $117,325 – $320,000 (median $222,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 102 comparable roles

United States77
Netherlands3
Japan3
Germany2
Ireland2
Poland1

+ 14 more countries

Seniority mix

102 of 102 peers have a known seniority level

Director46
Principal31
Senior Director25

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 102 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

45%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Johnson & Johnson Chiyoda, Japan Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Teva Pharmaceuticals Kfar Saba, Israel Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Warren, United States Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
BioNTech Berlin, Belgium Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Celgene - Summit (Corp) Summit West, United States Director
Same function Same seniority

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

45%
Director, Clinical Quality Assurance
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Director, Global Patient Safety-Quality & Compliance
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Warren, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Director, Corporate Quality - GCP
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. · Bedford, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
【AstraZeneca】【JOPS】Associate Quality Director,External Quality
AstraZeneca · Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.